The present invention relates to heat transfer apparatus and more particularly to a supplemental heating and cooling system for a forced air furnace and for supplementing the heating of water in a building.
It is well recognized that home heating systems are quite inefficient in their operation. Recent studies have indicated that a significant percentage of the heat of home furnaces is lost through the escape of hot flue gasses up the chimney. In order to capture some of the lost heat, several prior art systems have been proposed by which heat exchangers have been positioned in the chimney flue and liquid circulated through the heat exchanger and either returned to the hot water tank of the home for supplementing its heating of hot water and/or used in a hot water radiator for providing supplemental heat. U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,992 issued on July 29, 1975, to Borovina et al and U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,709 issued Dec. 28, 1976, to Estabrook are representative of this prior art.
The prior art systems although useful in capturing some of the lost heat of a furnace have been employed primarily in hot water heating system as opposed to forced air heating systems and have represented relatively complex systems which greatly increase the cost of installation and maintenance.